Step 7: Glue the wire in place

Step 8: Your finished!

Your bench dog is now finished. To use it, slide it in a 3/4" hole on your workbench, flat face facing the piece you want to block. You should be able...

You just finished building your brand new workbench and now it is time to look for some accessories. Since you have drilled dozens of 3/4" bench dog holes in your workbench, you say to yourself, I should get at least ten of these. This is where my instructable will save you lots of money!

Bench dogs, made of brass are sold for about 15$ each! Who need brass bench dogs? Wood made bench dogs can handle much more force you will ever be able to apply on it. So here is a short instructable on how to build your own bench dogs for almost nothing.

Fish tape is a great alternative to street sweeper tines, both about the same gauge and thickness of spring steel. Except a fish tape costs a fraction of a portion of a street sweeper brush replacement. And is readily available at places besides your local curb.

Source: Used to drive and maintain a street sweeper, own and use a fish tape.

Great idea and I have an alternative idea for the spring part, why wouldn't a common bobby pin work to in the same way to act as a spring? maybe clipped 3/4 way down the one side of the bobby pin and either glued in place so it would fit in an impression on the side of the bench dog- or just bent out at 90degrees and glued back in-to give the spring effect. still a great idea, A whack to my head (why didn't I think of this) its a very simple concept- Keep up the good work!!

Thanks for the comment! It depends on the material ... What's make bristles perfect for this project is that it is made of hardened steel. You want the wire to spring back to its original position when you pull the bench dog out of the hole.

For those with out a local street sweeper, I bet that the leftover splines from an old pair of windshield wipers would do very well instead. I have a pile of these that I have used for all sorts of projects that needed a small piece of springy (and stainless) steel.

You can see a brass bench dog (from Veritas), being used in the pictures - along with a Veritas Wonder Dog, which is basically a bench dog with a side-operating screw. Together, they make for a solid clamp.

You can also use a bench dog alone, when planing. But the end work up against the dog, and the pressure of the plane will hold the work solid. Alternatively, woodworker's benches have bench dog holes in their vises, so you can put dogs in the top and in the vise, and use the vise to clamp large, flat pieces.

Wow, that was fast! Not much to add ... In the past, square bench dogs were used instead of the round ones. With that type of bench dogs, there was no need for the side spring to secure the piece in the hole. The bench dog was cut a bit larger at one end to make it block in the hole. Some peoples still use these but the square holes in the workbench are more complicated to make. P.

I'd never thought of using my Wonder Dog to clamp dowels. I'd always used my shoulder or tail vise. Using the Wonder Dog clamps on three sides, and looks like it would be a lot more stable. If I'd not already wasted too much money on brass Veritas dogs, I'd be giving your 'ible a try...